Zoythrus

Zoythrus



13 Jan

Comment

Send me a DM and we'll chat about it


11 Jan

Comment

Originally posted by hysbminingsucks

Honestly you shoulda just replaced the crab with the navalon, maybe buff/nerf it accordingly so Aquarion doesn’t struggle with it’s still pretty underwhelming super unit

Aquarion is getting a rework at some point.

I think we want the Crab to stay because it's amphibious.

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Originally posted by ArdaKirk

Is it true that all special tribes will be reworked, if so why?

They'll all get some reworking.

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Originally posted by Budget-Boysenberry

Midjiwan should have at least made a Starfish equivalent of Navalons.

Well, that's the thing, we wanted to remove it entirely, not replace it.

Elyrion will get a rework, and who knows what they'll end up with?

Comment

Nope. They were removed.

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Originally posted by Toinkity

Thank you! You are included in the canvas by the way, in the left gravestone around the right, middle side of the canvas.

I see it now!

Thank you!


10 Jan

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Originally posted by 777Ayar

Zoythrus! Glad to see you here, taking advantage of the moment to ask: Will catapults ever be officially given Stiff :P ?

No clue.

It hasn't really been discussed, honestly.

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Originally posted by Business_Shop_6797

the only thing i’d change about polytopia is making actual defense a viable strategy it’s like u have to play super aggressive to win

And every time we add something defensive it "slows the game down" and "makes it boring".

So, we try to keep things more offensively driven.

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Originally posted by Archangel3967

Will Elyrion get a new special naval unit now that the Navalons are gone? Or will they just have to stick to boats?

No clue.

We have no particular interest in replacing the Navalon, though.


09 Jan

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Originally posted by Objective-Door-513

Thanks! any info on who goes first? How is this determined?

Host goes first unless they've set an invite link, then it's random.

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Originally posted by yoppyyoppy

The discord (linked in the subreddit sidebar/menu) has a polytopia-updates channel, I think all the changes should be detailed there.

u/Zoythrus also posts a changelog whenever there’s a new big update

Edited to add the word big

Yep! Well, I post big updates.

Comment

Depends on whether or not you have specific plans with your degree out of college.

Oh, wait, you meant Polytopia...

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Originally posted by mupb

Zoythrus I just want to say thank you for being so involved with the community and letting us know about what is happening in our beloved game, and ik there has been a fair bit of push back on the update but I think that all changes are good. For the first time in a long time the game feels fresh and new, not every game has a script and I really appreciate that. Thanks for all you and the mijiwan team do.

And I'm happy to help!

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Originally posted by Secariel

From a gameplay perspective, I think Aquarion's water dominance is somewhat overshadowed by the fact that contesting objectives on land is the only way to win. What do you guys think about this?

We do have an "Aquarion rework" planned.

Part of this "land dominance" thing was somewhat mitigated by the new Coastal spawns. We don't want the game to be "fully land" or "fully water", but a blend of the 2

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Originally posted by Winterfall_0

If the game is balanced around land/water distribution, wouldn't that mean Cymanti's strengths in land and weaknesses in water does indeed need to be addressed?

Simply telling players to play on different maps and sizes does not solve the problem. In fact, it only further highlights the current balance issues of Cymanti

Well, depends on how you look at it.

From our perspective, if "Continents" is the "default" map, then stuff like Drylands and Water World are understood to be "unbalanced, logical extremes".

Cymanti was always meant to be weaker on the water compared to the other tribes as a means of keeping them balanced. Like, "strong land game, weak water game".

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Originally posted by Winterfall_0

Having to play on specific map size and type just to avoid balance issues does not sounds like a very good game design

We see it as the opposite.

The game is balanced around Continents land/water distribution. Cymanti is meant to be weaker on water maps, and if you don't like seeing them on land, don't play on land-heavy maps


08 Jan

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Originally posted by ElfheimXhosa

These are very good thoughts

I don’t want to police you, as a game designer, but in my opinion games do better when buffs are prioritized over nerfs. Buffs keep everyone in line by ensure there are options to counter other busted units of strategies. Nerfs do their job but can have the unintended side effect of crippling existing counters to other strategies that are now OP.

I used to play a tf2-esque shooter called Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2. It is different as Team Plants has a different set of characters than Team Zombie. It was asymmetrical. Balancing is much more difficult and it shows. Imagine if every single tribe was a special tribe with different units, and a nerf on one tribe did not impact the rest like a nerf on the swordsman would impact all tribes.

When pvzgw launched in early 2016, Rose on plant team was considered overpowered, but in my opinion there were a myriad of design problems regarding the zombies that she kept at bay...

Read more

Oh, trust me, I'm well aware of the "no nerfs" idea.

But sometimes, they have to happen. We consider the PotO update as temporarily reining things back so we can develop. Roads, as a concept, did too much and Huts were the strongest of the 3, so we had to dial them back. Now we have the space to add new stuff and add buffs.

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Originally posted by Dramatic-Yam179

Are tribes going to get more things that make them unique other than starting tech, because i really like the idea of Cymanti and I feel like it would work if other tribes had some more unique things about them. I really like that Polaris can freeze units and has a da vinci tank, I think that's awesome.

No.

Midjiwan wants to keep the unique abilities, techs, etc all in the domain of "Special" tribes.

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Originally posted by femto_one

I find it difficult to believe that Aquarion's ability to use roads was just a "bug" since it was present for upwards of 7 years. I can entertain an argument that road usage is inconsistent with the aesthetic/lore of the tribe but one could make a similar argument about knights--their horse and armor should make them too awkward/heavy to crew a boat, but under the current rules they can hop into a Rammer or Scout and move faster than a Tridention on water, while a Tridention is stuck moving a 6th the speed of a knight on land w/roads. In most games this alone isn't going to change who wins or loses, but it could easily add many extra turns to an endgame.

So, hard to believe, I know, but it's the official stance. Amphibious units have the "Swim" trait that gives them -1 movement on land. But, it was accidentally coded as a terrain penalty and not a flat value, so roads negated it (as they negate terrain penalties). We don't want Amphibians/Tridentions to be zooming around on land, and want to keep them more firmly planted in the water (while also being Amphibious).